Elsworth, D. and Mace, T. (2021). A Roman period enclosure south of Lumley Road, Kendal. Transactions of the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society 21 (series 3). Vol 21, Bowness-on-Windermere: Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society. pp. 27-42. https://doi.org/10.5284/1090541.
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Title:
A Roman period enclosure south of Lumley Road, Kendal
Issue:
Transactions of the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society 21 (series 3)
An archaeological strip and record of a cropmark enclosure south of Lumley Road, Kendal, prior to the construction of a residential development, revealed it to be a substantial ditch, with associated finds principally dated to the second to fourth century AD. An area of cobbling and a large stone-filled pit of similar date was located nearby. The cropmark is recorded in an aerial photograph taken in 1955 and was also revealed by geophysical survey. The ditch, of uncertain function, probably remained partially visible beyond the late Roman period as its latest fill was radiocarbon dated to the fourth to sixth century AD. Environmental evidence and the finds recovered demonstrate that the site was domestic or agricultural in nature, and noteworthy for its relative abundance of finds of both pottery and animal bone, suggesting a close connection with the Roman fort of Watercrook, less than 0.5km to the south-east, which was established in the first century AD. The exact relationship between Roman military sites and contemporary settlements nearby remains uncertain in the wider region, although there is increasing evidence for a landscape of such sites associated with forts, creating what has been described as a 'dispersed vicus'. This is not something that has been previously examined in the case of Watercrook.
